Tuesday, November 4, 2008

A lot of people find Elisabeth Hasselbeck's presence on "The View" incredibly annoying, and I gotta say, I do too. She's like a feminine Bill O'Reilly--loud, domineering, condescending, obstinate, and most of the time, just plain stupid.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of this blog, I'm glad that Elisabeth is on television. By arguing her (talking) points so tenaciously, she often dramatizes common white tendencies.

I've written before about Hasselbeck's continual demonstration of the common white insistence, especially in mixed-race discussions, on occupying center-stage. In the clip below, from this morning's edition of "The View," she launches a vigorous, last-ditch volley of attacks, which largely consist of guilt-by-association claims about Barack Obama.

We're probably all tired of such crap, especially today, but a tone of something approaching desperation in Hasselbeck's attack here does provide a sense of something like schadenfreude. More to the point, she also demonstrates a common white tendency in such discussions -- refusing to see or consider how something looks from another, non-white point of view, and then judging that thing from a limited white perspective.

In this discussion, Joy Behar serves as a foil to Hasselbeck; Behar highlights Hasselbeck's performance of this common form of white solipsism by performing the opposite, an openness to experience that differs from her own.

Joy Behar thus provides some hope here; she shows that some white people can step back and admit that because they're coming from a different place in terms of race, they just don't know enough about something to judge whether it's right or wrong.

16 comments:

It's funny how she honestly can't see things from the other viewpoint (funny since it's "the view"). And she's the type of person that scares me and will be the first to push obama under the bus if he doesn't give the change people were expecting come november 2009 if he wins.

Macon, you put just the right words to this phenomena I've been through so many times: "the common white insistence, especially in mixed-race discussions, on occupying center-stage" combined with the failure to look at another point of view. Hmmm... I guess we can call it racial narcissism.

Good post. And yeah, voting went quickly and smoothly for me this afternoon. I'm excited and hopeful, and judging by the nationwide turnout, so are a lot of Americans.

>More to the point, she also demonstrates a common white tendency in such discussions--refusing to see or consider how something looks from another, non-white point of view, and then judging that thing from a limited white perspective.

And when this common white tendency comes up in yourself and becomes visible in some of your posts you have a big problem with realizing your own white limited perspective. Why?

jw, I have noticed this common white tendency in myself, and I know that my white perspective is limited. However, to my recollection, I know of no places on my blog where I've demonstrated a refusal to see and/or listen to how something non-white looks from another (non-white) point of view, while at the same time judging that non-white thing negatively, neither in a post here nor in comments.

I also know of no instance where I've negatively judged something or someone non-white while refusing to listen to other non-white perspectives on it, as Hasselbeck does in this clip. I have disagreed with non-white commenters in the past on various things (since I don't think that someone's automatically right and I'm wrong just BECAUSE they're non-white), but it wasn't over any negative judgments on my part of something non-white that they disagreed with, nor was it because I wasn't considering their differing points of view before disagreeing with their claims.

This clip and post get to the heart of what we as a country seem unable to get past. People in general (not just white people) seem to have a significant inability to try to understand the world from another's perspective. This is why I thought Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech was one of the most important and historical ever delivered.

Not only do white people need to move beyond the attitude (that I just ran into yesterday with an acquaintance at an in-law's house) of resentment and irritation/annoyance/ignorance that leads them to the actual belief that anti-discrimination laws have fixed everything, so why are "they" still bitching, but they need to be educated to learn our very recent history. I won't go into the discussion I had where I tried to patiently explain that most of the black baby boomer and older generation (depending on where they lived) experienced first hand discrimination, Jim Crow, oppression, violence and segregation and that their children were brought up presumably to believe that they would not be treated fairly -- not to mention that clearly they weren't. So she said (and she voted for Obama, by the way) -- OK, well if he wins then can we be done with this? My opinion and answer was "no". It will be a huge improvement, but some of the social injustice that still exists -- things like large urban housing areas created to segregate and house blacks who moved there during and after WWII -- have never had equal access to decent education, etc. One of the people who helped me to really have much better appreciation for this history was, oddly enough, the comedian, Paul Mooney. "The People's History of the United States" was also important.

But the bottom line is that we are never going to make real strides toward unity and understanding until we make an effort to understand each other's history.

That's one of the reasons that Obama feels like such a transformational figure. We don't like talking about race. It makes us uncomfortable, angry and resentful because of our ignorance.

He's in a unique position to open up this dialogue and speak from experience about both points of view.

Sorry to ramble so long, but this is IMO the biggest hurdle we still have.

I hate Elisabeth with the passion of a thousand burning suns. She is the epitome of White privilege and her ignorance is appalling. She's one of "those" White "anti-racists" who believe they know so much more than Blacks know about themselves.

I live in Canadada-land and we had our non-mattering election last month and still have the same guy running the country (hooray!). It was a pointless waste of time, haha. I will say that I am scared shitless for America this election and sincerely hope that Obama wins!

Black 13%Hispanic/Latino 13%Asian and "other" 6%Overall support from minorities averages out to about 70%.70% of 30% isn't enough to get Obama elected. It took A LOT of whites to see things from a different point of view.

As a Black woman, I do not embrace "white guilt" because I do not find it productive or constructive. On the other hand, I do encourage awareness (even tolerance) of cultural and racial differences. Personally, I appreciate learning about cultural nuances even if I may not always understand them.Hasselbeck and her ilk bask in their narcissism and delusion that envisions a New World Order that is out of step with the real world most of us live in. That is in part why the McCain/Palin ticket was rejected by more than half of Americans--thank goodness. The hijacking of the Repubs by the extreme religious right has caused the party to implode. They must now regroup and decide what kind of party they want to be for the 21st century and beyond.

Thanks for the comments here, everyone. Lots of insight, more than I can respond to. But angry black-white girl had a question, about "non-white" versus "people of color."

I use "non-white" instead of "people of color" not because I necessarily reject the latter term, but more because of the context of this blog, which is focused on exposing whiteness. "Non-white" is imperfect, but I think it helps to maintain that focus. Also, the term "people of color" can imply that white people don't have a "color"; I think that as a result of that implication, white people can be subtly encouraged by that term to go on ignoring the significance of their own racial status--"race" remains about "people of color," instead of about themselves.

Nevertheless, "non-white" has its problems--it can center whiteness too much, for instance. I think all terms for talking about whiteness in relation to other races are imperfect. Maybe that's because the idea of race is one giant fiction.

I hope that answers your question, and I welcome any other thoughts on this topic.

it's an interesting point you raise. i have heard the objection to the term people of color that it marginalizes POCs who are light-skinned, but am less familiar with the one that white people have a color too and conversations about race shouldn't be framed as exclusively about people of color.

i agree that race is a fallacy, but it plays such a big role in how we experience the world and interact with each other to say that race doesn't exist usually feels like a moot point.

i get why you choose non-white over POC, but still feel that "non-white" reinforces the idea of whiteness as the norm or standard by which the rest of us are all measured.

plus, what about half-white mixed folks? one can be both white and a person of color, but can one be both white and non-white at the same time? a non-white white person? a white non-white person? there we go jamming up everybody's ideas and language about race again. : )

Her unwillingness to at least see the other side of the point (not agree but just see) is what frustrates not only me but her co-hosts as well. She is what scares me about this country!!!Because she, along with a good deal of America, will concede nothing, will answer no questions will never give you a rationed reason for the why they can not see your point and still believe what they believe. She said the same things over and over and over again an never once considered a different side. Not take a different side but consider a differing opinion. SHE SCARES ME!!!

This isn't a white black issue, this is a Christian non-Christian issue. The fact that any person is sitting under this man shows where their faith lies as does Obama with not only the issues he support, but his wife asking for fellow Christians to send "good spirits" her way. Flat out ignorant of the religion she/they claim to believe in.

And Joy saying that maybe that's just how they like to talk in their churches does not give her any creed.

And I am a black woman!!...in the heart of the hood let me add in case people want to throw a comment on how black I am LOL.

Now I will say she can't judge him exclusively on that issue. If a person leaves their church as any Christian should if they're truly a Christian, after hearing such rhetoric. Then on God's standards they're justified. There are other finger pointers to his so called Christianity that should cause her to say what she does but my reaction now that he's won is to pray for him.

jw said...>More to the point, she also demonstrates a common white tendency in such discussions--refusing to see or consider how something looks from another, non-white point of view, and then judging that thing from a limited white perspective.

And when this common white tendency comes up in yourself and becomes visible in some of your posts you have a big problem with realizing your own white limited perspective. Why?

Macon D said...jw, I have noticed this common white tendency in myself, and I know that my white perspective is limited. However, to my recollection, I know of no places on my blog where I've demonstrated a refusal to see and/or listen to how something non-white looks from another (non-white) point of view, while at the same time judging that non-white thing negatively, neither in a post here nor in comments.

I also know of no instance where I've negatively judged something or someone non-white while refusing to listen to other non-white perspectives on it, as Hasselbeck does in this clip.

I can help you with that, Macon. ;o)

With respect to the post, Elizabeth Hasselbeck brought to mind your 'playing the ethnicity card' post because she's mentioned her mother being Latina (not in the video you posted, on another show - back before I assessed why I was watching the show).